PH improves ranking in ‘corruption perception’ index

Malacañang has welcomed the latest results of the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index which showed an improvement in the country’s anti-corruption drive.

In a statement, Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that “the momentum of reform continues unabated, as recognized by the global anti-corruption coalition, Transparency International.”

According to the latest survey, the Philippines improved its ranking on the list of most corrupt countries, now ranking 94th out of 177 countries, tying with Algeria, Armenia, Benin, Colombia, Djibouti, India and Suriname, scoring 36 on a perceived level of public sector corruption based on a scale of 0-100, “where 0 means a country is perceived as highly corrupt, and 100 means it is perceived as very clean,”

This was an improvement of 11 places from the country’s previous rank of 105th. It was 129th in 2011.

Lacierda said that these gains reflect improved confidence in President Aquino’s leadership and that his commitment to stamp out corruption is gradually taking effect.

He also believes the improvement in the ratings also shows that investors are acknowledging the government’s anti-corruption efforts.

“This year’s improvement continues a trend—in which the reforms put in place result in an increasingly positive and encouraging perception of the country, where improvements are measured not only year-by-year, but by leaps and bounds on an annual basis,” he said

“This improvement is also a measure of the continued confidence of the international community in the Philippines, and likewise contributes to the virtuous cycle of empowerment as Filipinos from all walks of life work together to accomplish permanent change in the country,” Lacierda added. CATHERINE S. VALENTE

3 Responses to PH improves ranking in ‘corruption perception’ index

Wow…that is very impressive…The Supreme Court’s decision on the PDAF and other anomalous loopholes on government thievery is starting to make an impact. I would suggest that Pres. Aquino should take advantage of this momentum by creating a Criminal Financial and Law Enforcement Task Force CZAR who will have agents with the capability to gather intelligence for the lone purpose of accountability,transparency, audit and honest delivery on any project, program or any suspected anomalies involved in every branch , department, bureau or office of the government.. from the local to the national level.This Taskforce will have the NBI, COA, and the office of the Ombudsman under its umbrella. Since our Sandigan Bayan moves in a turtle pace with no prosecutions , trials or convictions, as their priority probably Congress should set up a special Tribunal for the special purpose of cleaning up corruption on our system of government.We also need Congress to start enacting anti corruption laws that will eliminate ways and means of politician’s access to government money except for their salary.

Nice idea, but I feel that too many cooks can spoil the broth. A unit, sufficiently manned under the Ombudsman may only be needed to accomplish the same objective. It will have as its mandate the collection and compilation of evidences of corruption from all government offices and agencies, both local and national. It will conduct a nationwide campaign to induce honest government employees to report corruption within the agency where they are employed. Strict confidentiality will be maintained to protect the employee who will be guided on how and where to submit the evidences they collect. Once enough materials are obtained to insure conviction, they are submitted to the Ombudsman for proper action.

President Aquino is the only president who seriously run after these crooks, stealing from the government’s coffer for decades, which makes the country unable to progress where it should be. The big obstacle I see is the weakness of the JUSTICE SYSTEM which may not be able to help him much in his campaign to rote out this evil. The President must continue his effort and empower the people, the media by pushing for the FOI bill to become the law of the land, to help him watch these thieves be exposed to public shame to resign. In the mean time, the government must hire honest, tough prosecutors, get rid of judges that are chronically perceived to be unclean, replace them with tough honest judges, resistant to bribery, to show the world, what an honest government can do, given a chance to do something good, worthy of emulation. With God’s grace, you will be successful.